Two men fire handguns while one holds a handcuffed blonde woman and a ghostly figure leans over them
Cover of the first issue; art is by Rafael De Soto

Captain Zero was an American pulp magazine that published three issues in 1949 and 1950. The lead novels, written by G.T. Fleming-Roberts, featured Lee Allyn, who had been the subject of an experiment with radiation, and as a result was invisible between midnight and dawn.[1] Under the name Captain Zero, Allyn became a vigilante, fighting crime at night. Allyn had no other superpowers, and the novels were straightforward mysteries in Weinberg's opinion,[1] though pulp historian Robert Sampson considers them to be "complex...[they] pound along with hair-raising incidents..full of twists and high suspense".[2] Captain Zero was the last crime-fighter hero magazine to be launched in the pulp era, ending an era that had begun with The Shadow in 1931.[2] There was room in the magazine for only one or two short stories along with the lead novel; these were all straight mystery stories, without the veneer of science fiction of the Captain Zero novels.[1][2]

The covers, all by Rafael De Soto, are "less satisfying" than the novels, in Sampson's opinion; Captain Zero is represented just by a floating robe and hood with glaring eyes—though the original artwork for the second issue, now in private hands, only shows the figures of a woman, and a man firing a gun, with no representation of Captain Zero. The internal artwork—in Sampson's view; "clean, bright, satisfying work, vividly done"—was by an unknown artist.[2] Each issue included a non-fiction section with crime anecdotes, and a department called "The Zero Hour" which narrated stories about anonymous crime-fighters—likely to be fabricated, according to Sampson.[2]

The magazine was cancelled after only three issues. Fleming-Roberts had already written a fourth novel, but it was never published and is now in a private collection.[2]

Bibliographic details

Captain Zero published three issues, dated November 1949, and January and March 1950. The publisher was Recreational Reading, Inc, of Kokomo, Indiana, which was a subsidiary of Popular Publications in New York, where the editorial offices were. There was a single volume of three numbers. All three issues were pulp format, 128 pages, and 25 cents.[1] According to pulp historian Robert Weinberg, Mary Gnaedinger was the editor who created the magazine; Alden H. Norton edited the individual issues, but according to bibliographer Phil Stephensen-Payne, the editor was Henry Steeger.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Weinberg (1985), pp. 158-159.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sampson (1983), pp. 83-87.
  3. ↑ Stephensen-Payne, Phil (January 7, 2022). "Magazines, Listed by Title: Captain Zero". Galactic Central. Archived from the original on 2022-01-08. Retrieved January 7, 2022.

Sources

  • Sampson, Robert (1983). "Captain Zero". In Cook, Michael L. (ed.). Mystery, Detective, and Espionage Magazines. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 83–87. ISBN 0-313-23310-1.
  • Weinberg, Robert (1985). "Captain Zero". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.). Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 158–159. ISBN 0-3132-1221-X.
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